Saturday, July 30, 2011

“What reason shows to be true is absolutely true, so that the opposite is absolutely false and impossible.” – Thomas Aquinas

From Ayn Rand’s Objectivism: Reason is the faculty that deals with the perception of reality. Reason organizes perceptual units in conceptual terms by following the principles of logic. Logic is noncontradictory identification within the full context of one’s knowledge.

Reason is the existence-oriented faculty. It is the faculty of proof. Reason is the human faculty which forms concepts by a process of logic based on the evidence of the senses. Reason is our means of gaining knowledge of this world and guiding our actions in it.

From Thomas Jefferson:

"Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven…. Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind."

"Shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear…. It is an insult to our citizens to question whether they are rational beings or not, and blasphemy against religion to suppose it cannot stand the test of truth and reason.”

"It is comfortable to see the standard of reason at length erected, after so many ages, during which the human mind has been held in vassalage by kings, priests, and nobles; and it is honorable for us to have produced the first legislature who had the courage to declare that the reason of man may be trusted with the formation of his own opinions."

‎"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent."

"I am not myself apt to be alarmed at innovations recommended by reason. That dread belongs to those whose interests or prejudices shrink from the advance of truth and science."

"Instead of that liberty which takes root and growth in the progress of reason, if recovered by mere force or accident, it becomes with an unprepared people a tyranny still of the many, the few, or the one."

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." - George Washington

"When I disagree with a rational man, I let reality be our final arbiter; if I am right, he will learn; if I am wrong, I will; one of us will win, but both will profit." - Ayn Rand

From Reason Reigns:

Heaven on Earth can be achieved when reason reigns.

Men of reason stand for freedom. They do not rule, nor can they be ruled by men because they are ruled by reason.

Independent thinkers cannot be ruled, so die they must. Between tyrants who crave to rule and thinkers who cannot be ruled, once again, the battle is joined.

On the book’s front cover is a sculpture of a naked woman triumphantly raising a torch, arms stretched high above her head, body straight and proud, feet firmly atop a skull over a thick book. Showing man’s goodness and efficacy, the sculpture represents the values depicted in Reason Reigns. The woman’s exalted pose is a salute to man’s intellectual and creative power. The sculpture is entitled: The Power of Science over Death. The sculptor, Dr. Jose Rizal, a polymath and polyglot, was executed by tyrants at age 35.

Excerpt:

The islanders were all ears as Ron solemnly addressed them.

“Reason is the faculty that deals with the perception of reality, while faith is the claim to a non-sensory means of knowledge. Principles and values derived from faith are often accepted without question even in the face of contrary evidence, while reason deals with facts and employs the method of non-contradictory identification.

Faith has been used to further ignorance, enshrine irrationality, and exploit people. With faith, there is no necessity for justification. Force is its corollary.

But if one's personal faith holds reason as its top value, then, faith and reason are not incompatible. If one's personal faith holds the life, freedom, and happiness of each human being as the most sacred of values, then, reason and faith can coexist, parallel to each other, in the same man.

This man uses reason for everything that can be explained, while his faith holds on to dreams that inspire him to live.

Faith in a God who is all-good and all-loving, who treasures each man, endowing him with a mind capable of understanding man's nature, the Earth, and the universe.

Faith in a God who so loves man that He respects his freedom of choice.

Faith that God shares the most sacrosanct of values: each man's life, his freedom, and his happiness here on Earth. Faith that Heaven and Earth are one and the same.

Faith that human life goes on until eternity, that everything is possible to man. Faith in miracles -

Think of a miracle. Believe that God has given the means to achieve it. Think, and find out the facts. Think, with the clarity of purpose. Let the vision of a miracle be a beacon to guide your actions. Think, and then act. Act with the confidence that miracles do happen to doers who strive to actualize them.

Rejoice! Angels do exist in our midst, though it takes the highest of virtues to recognize them.

Heaven on Earth can be achieved when reason reigns."

Alisa gazed at Ron adoringly. “A good man,” she thought. “His mind matches his looks.” Ron was six feet and three inches tall. He was proud and joyously confident.

Ron continued, “I respect the freedom of each man to celebrate the holy month, but I do not hold humility as a virtue. I think self-sacrifice is evil, suffering has no value, and one’s own happiness is the purpose of life.”

Thomas Jefferson said: “Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments.” To remove the use of force from citizen interactions so that individuals may deal with each other only by reason and persuasion, citizens delegate their right to self-defense to their government. Citizens cannot delegate a right they do not possess – hence, the government has no right to regulate inherent inalienable Rights, including the rights of individuals who hold that selfishness is a virtue.

Excerpt:

Many voters, specially the young, pondered political principles. An eighteen-year-old student and babysitter was with a first grader and a kindergartner.

“Who gets your vote for president?” the first grader asked the babysitter.

“Apollo Marianto.”

“Why?”

“Because he stands for reason and rights.”

“What is reason?” the kindergartner asked.

“Reason is the human faculty which forms concepts by a process of logic based on the evidence of the senses. Reason is our means of gaining knowledge of this world and guiding our actions in it. Reason is not just for grownups. Would you like me to tell you a story about the ‘evidence of the senses’ and trusting one’s own rational faculty?”

“Yes.” The children chorused.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen, written in 1837.

Many, many years ago lived an emperor, who thought so much of new clothes that he spent all his money in order to obtain them; his only ambition was to be always well dressed. He did not care for his soldiers, and the theatre did not amuse him; the only thing, in fact, he thought anything of was to drive out and show a new suit of clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day; and as one would say of a king “He is in his cabinet,” so one could say of him, “The emperor is in his dressing room.”

The great city where he resided was very gay; every day many strangers from all parts of the globe arrived. One day two swindlers came to this city; they made people believe that they were weavers, and declared they could manufacture the finest cloth to be imagined. Their colours and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionally beautiful, but the clothes made of their material possessed the wonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably stupid.

“That must be wonderful cloth,” thought the emperor. “If I were to be dressed in a suit made of this cloth I should be able to find out which men in my empire were unfit for their places, and I could distinguish the clever from the stupid. I must have this cloth woven for me without delay.”

He gave a large sum of money to the swindlers, in advance, that they should set to work without any loss of time. They set up two looms, and pretended to be very hard at work, but they did nothing whatever on the looms. They asked for the finest silk and the most precious gold-cloth; all they got they did away with, and worked at the empty looms till late at night.

“I should very much like to know how they are getting on with the cloth,” thought the emperor. But he felt rather uneasy when he remembered that he who was not fit for his office could not see it. Personally, he was of opinion that he had nothing to fear, yet he thought it advisable to send somebody else first to see how matters stood. Everybody in the town knew what a remarkable quality the stuff possessed, and all were anxious to see how bad or stupid their neighbours were.

“I shall send my honest old minister to the weavers,” thought the emperor. “He can judge best how the stuff looks, for he is intelligent, and nobody understands his office better than he.”

The good old minister went into the room where the swindlers sat before the empty looms. “Heaven preserve us!” he thought, and opened his eyes wide, “I cannot see anything at all,” but he did not say so. Both swindlers requested him to come near, and asked him if he did not admire the exquisite pattern and the beautiful colours, pointing to the empty looms. The poor old minister tried his very best, but he could see nothing, for there was nothing to be seen. “Oh dear,” he thought, “can I be so stupid? I should never have thought so, and nobody must know it! Is it possible that I am not fit for my office? No, no, I cannot say that I was unable to see the cloth.”

“Now, have you got nothing to say?” said one of the swindlers, while he pretended to be busily weaving.

“Oh, it is very pretty, exceedingly beautiful,” replied the old minister looking through his glasses. “What a beautiful pattern, what brilliant colours! I shall tell the emperor that I like the cloth very much.”

“We are pleased to hear that,” said the two weavers, and described to him the colours and explained the curious pattern. The old minister listened attentively, that he might relate to the emperor what they said; and so he did.

Now the swindlers asked for more money, silk and gold-cloth, which they required for weaving. They kept everything for themselves, and not a thread came near the loom, but they continued, as hitherto, to work at the empty looms.

Soon afterwards the emperor sent another honest courtier to the weavers to see how they were getting on, and if the cloth was nearly finished. Like the old minister, he looked and looked but could see nothing, as there was nothing to be seen.

“Is it not a beautiful piece of cloth?” asked the two swindlers, showing and explaining the magnificent pattern, which, however, did not exist.

“I am not stupid,” said the man. “It is therefore my good appointment for which I am not fit. It is very strange, but I must not let any one know it;” and he praised the cloth, which he did not see, and expressed his joy at the beautiful colours and the fine pattern. “It is very excellent,” he said to the emperor.

Everybody in the whole town talked about the precious cloth. At last the emperor wished to see it himself, while it was still on the loom. With a number of courtiers, including the two who had already been there, he went to the two clever swindlers, who now worked as hard as they could, but without using any thread.

“Is it not magnificent?” said the two old statesmen who had been there before. “Your Majesty must admire the colours and the pattern.” And then they pointed to the empty looms, for they imagined the others could see the cloth.

“What is this?” thought the emperor, “I do not see anything at all. That is terrible! Am I stupid? Am I unfit to be emperor? That would indeed be the most dreadful thing that could happen to me.”

“Really,” he said, turning to the weavers, “your cloth has our most gracious approval;” and nodding contentedly he looked at the empty loom, for he did not like to say that he saw nothing. All his attendants, who were with him, looked and looked, and although they could not see anything more than the others, they said, like the emperor, “It is very beautiful.” And all advised him to wear the new magnificent clothes at a great procession which was soon to take place. “It is magnificent, beautiful, excellent,” one heard them say; everybody seemed to be delighted, and the emperor appointed the two swindlers “Imperial Court weavers.”

The whole night previous to the day on which the procession was to take place, the swindlers pretended to work, and burned more than sixteen candles. People should see that they were busy to finish the emperor’s new suit. They pretended to take the cloth from the loom, and worked about in the air with big scissors, and sewed with needles without thread, and said at last: “The emperor’s new suit is ready now.”

The emperor and all his barons then came to the hall; the swindlers held their arms up as if they held something in their hands and said: “These are the trousers!” “This is the coat!” and “Here is the cloak!” and so on. “They are all as light as a cobweb, and one must feel as if one had nothing at all upon the body; but that is just the beauty of them.”

“Indeed!” said all the courtiers; but they could not see anything, for there was nothing to be seen.

“Does it please your Majesty now to graciously undress,” said the swindlers, “that we may assist your Majesty in putting on the new suit before the large looking-glass?”

The emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put the new suit upon him, one piece after another; and the emperor looked at himself in the glass from every side.

“How well they look! How well they fit!” said all. “What a beautiful pattern! What fine colours! That is a magnificent suit of clothes!”

The master of the ceremonies announced that the bearers of the canopy, which was to be carried in the procession, were ready.

“I am ready,” said the emperor. “Does not my suit fit me marvelously?” Then he turned once more to the looking-glass, that people should think he admired his garments.

The chamberlains, who were to carry the train, stretched their hands to the ground as if they lifted up a train, and pretended to hold something in their hands; they did not like people to know that they could not see anything.

The emperor marched in the procession under the beautiful canopy, and all who saw him in the street and out of the windows exclaimed: “Indeed, the emperor’s new suit is incomparable! What a long train he has! How well it fits him!” Nobody wished to let others know he saw nothing, for then he would have been unfit for his office or too stupid. Never emperor’s clothes were more admired.

“But he has nothing on at all,” said a little child at last.

“Good heavens! Listen to the voice of an innocent child,” said the father, and one whispered to the other what the child had said.

“But he has nothing on at all,” cried at last the whole people.

That made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought to himself, “Now I must bear up to the end.” And the chamberlains walked with still greater dignity, as if they carried the train which did not exist. – The End.”

“It’s a beautiful story, thank you,” said the first grader. “The child is honest.”

The kindergartner also thanked the babysitter. “The child told the truth.”

“Yes, the child is honest. It told the truth even when everyone was saying the contrary to the evidence of its eyesight.” The babysitter smiled at the children.

“Now I understand reason,” said the first grader. “I use it to know what’s real.”

The kindergartner held the babysitter’s hand. “You are voting for Mr. Marianto because he is for reason and what’s real, and he tells the truth like the child in the story?”

“Yes. He values reason, reality, and the truth. Many do not, like the emperor, his old minister, and his whole empire.”

“In the real world, what happens when grownups think and act like those in the story?”

“If there is freedom, it’s okay because there are people like Mr. Marianto. But if the people in government do not go by reality and truth, they stifle reason in many ways. Reason would be their enemy because it would expose their rackets. When people are conned into letting their government think for them, it is the end of freedom. The government has the monopoly on the use of force, that is, only the government can force others. It can force unreason on citizens.”

“Do we have freedom?” asked the first grader.

“We don’t have absolute freedom. Some can still speak out but we do not have property rights. The government can force us to pay any amount of taxes, even 90% of our income. Businessmen do not have rights at all. They create jobs but the government bashes them all the time and people who do not use reason vilify them at every turn.”

“Is that why many are going out of business and millions do not have jobs?”

“Yes.”

“But like the emperor, people in government do not admit that truth, do they?”

“Businessmen bashers do not, be they in or out of government. They think there will always be businessmen creating jobs and enduring being treated like slaves.”

“That’s contrary to reason.”

“You are right. If the government does not stop bashing businessmen, every goose that lays golden eggs will eventually die.”

“That is another good story you told us. Mr. Marianto must like businessmen.”

“He says they should be free like any individual. In freedom, individuals have equal inherent inalienable rights. Businessmen have been deprived of rights for more than a century.”

“Why? Aren’t many of them powerful?”

“They do not have the power to use force, remember? Only the government does. Good businessmen do not lobby the government to use force in their behalf.”

“Aren’t many of them rich and successful?”

“Many of them are. They become rich by using reason. People who revel in using force go at them because they are successful and because they respect reason, reality, and truth.”

The first grader looked earnest. “Everyone claims to love the poor. But one who claims so and bashes the rich is like the emperor and his people – such person is not using reason nor telling the truth.”

“Rights are inborn. Mr. Marianto and Prime Minister Prince George explained that the source of rights is not the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution. This means that man-made laws are not the source of rights and that society cannot morally regulate, modify, or take away rights. Any action an individual must do in order that he might live and not die is a right, provided it does not infringe an equal right. Always remember: any action that infringes a right is not a right. Recognizing rights are inalienable, the Founders declared that government cannot deprive a rights-respecting individual of his rights. An individual who infringes rights loses his own rights after due process of law, though every individual can defend himself in an emergency.”

“Don’t the Republicans and Democrats in government respect rights?”

“Many from both parties do not. They enjoy being emperors. They can raise taxes at will and can destroy any business or businessman.”

“We should save jobs by stopping the government from destroying businessmen. We should champion reason.”

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Best premises and good fortune!

Reason Reigns and Royal Serf - A Hearing

“It’s not criminals who provoke great hatred, it’s honest men.” The words of a polymath and polyglot executed by tyrants at age 35: Dr. Jose Rizal.

Honesty is fidelity to the truth. The truth is what conforms to reality. Integrity is fidelity to logic. It is the refusal to hold contradictions; it is the consistent cohesion of words and deeds; it is honoring one’s mental creations by giving them physical existence.

I hold that the honest would accord my novels, Reason Reigns and Royal Serf, a hearing. I expect hatred from the moral descendants of the executioners of Dr. Rizal and the persecutors of Galileo, and from the enemies of the principle of individual liberty. They destroy rather than stand the test of truth and reason.

Reason Reigns extols independent thinkers, and Royal Serf honors the Declaration of Independence. These novels proclaim that the right to the pursuit of happiness is the right to selfishness.

Royal Serf’s Apollo says: “One not concerned with oneself has no desire to live. The concept of one’s concern for oneself, represented by the word selfishness, has been twisted to mean malevolence towards others. Those who desire to live but accept the twisted meaning of selfishness unwittingly facilitate insidious destroyers. Unable to rule nor influence individuals who accept no guilt in their desire to live and pursue happiness, destroyers demonize their core by associating callousness and malevolence with selfishness.”

Apollo responds to this request from an interviewer: “Use major swindler Bernard Madoff to contrast a selfish man with a selfless man.” -

“The basic selfishness criteria are self-preservation and self-reliance followed by self-love and self-respect. Bernard Madoff is not self-reliant. A dependent, he fed off his victims. Unmindful of losing his liberty, he committed massive fraud. Self-preservation is clearly absent – Madoff does not value himself. He fails even the basic selfishness test. Madoff is selfless.”

Selfless means no self: no self-esteem, no self-respect, no self-love.

The sixteenth amendment, a stick-up of hard-earned wages, tramples on the Declaration of Independence and incinerates property rights. The Antitrust Law spits on logic, puffing up that free competition must be enforced! Undefined, flexible, contradictory laws are hailed. Sacrifice is the Holy Grail. Selfishness is trumpeted as having horns, a pointed tail, and a pitchfork.

Honesty demands that one’s soul be put on trial: The advocacy or sanction of coercion is the mark of evil. Integrity must be summoned to reclaim the Declaration of Independence from the clutches of sacrifice glorifiers.